


Teenager in Love

by strawberrylemonade1225



Series: bmc one shots [3]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, I Love Play Rehearsal, M/M, One Shot, Pining, anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 11:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11600022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylemonade1225/pseuds/strawberrylemonade1225
Summary: Each night I ask the stars up above: "Why must I be a teenager in love?"





	Teenager in Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is a boyf riends one shot that I posted on Amino and I figured I should post it here too.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> (also the song A Teenager in Love by Marty Wilde is some GOOD shit)

Michael loves Jeremy.

That much is obvious; they've been friends forever, and Michael was there for him during the entire ‘squipcident’ even though he had nearly given up.

Michael loves Jeremy and Jeremy loves Michael right on back.

They protect each other without a second thought. Michael threw punches for Jeremy in third grade and Jeremy spat out insults and weak threats for Michael in fifth. They had each other's back, no doubt about it.

They knew everything about each other. That's pretty much always going to happen when people are friends with someone for as long as they have been friends.

For example, Michael knew that Jeremy couldn't sleep if his closet doors were open, and Jeremy knew that Michael has the weirdest music taste in existence. Additionally, Michael knew that Jeremy pretty much hated himself, and Jeremy knew that Michael starts to panic whenever he thinks of Jake's Halloween party for too long.

They were skilled at reading each other. Well, Michael was skilled at reading Jeremy, but Jeremy was pretty much an open book. Michael was better at closing himself off, being less... expressive. It's been that way for a while- He wanted to make sure that Jeremy, or anyone else, wouldn't be able to read into him that much. He wanted people to know how he felt, only if he told them, yet somehow, Jeremy could still read him sometimes. 

Sometimes.

Anyway, they love each other. They love each other more than they love anyone else. At least, that's how much Michael loves Jeremy. He loves Jeremy more than anything, so much so that he believes that he loves Jeremy enough for the both of them.

“Michael? You've zoned out, where were you, dude?” Jeremy called out, setting down his Mountain Dew Red and looking over at him. Michael's glazed over gaze turned from television to Jeremy, his eyes adjusting in the dark.

It illuminated part of his face, leaving the other half in the dark. A piece of hair curled down over one of his eyes and he looked concerned, biting the inside of his lip. The blue screen glow made his face brighter and made him even prettier in Michael's eyes.

“Huh? I'm fine, man.” Michael popped a sour patch kid into his mouth and spoke around it. “Just day dreaming.”

***

Michael is… in love with Jeremy.

He loves the way his nose scrunches and his lips pucker up whenever he eats a sour candy, and how they never fail to stain his lips red.

He loves the way that Jeremy walks, hands in his pocket and slightly hunched, as if he wanted to hide but didn't try to.

He loves Jeremy's hair, the perfect mess of brown hair and how he uses one of Christine's headbands to hold it back in rehearsal to focus, and Michael loves how passionate Jeremy has become about the theater.

He loves the brightly colored band aids he puts on his cuts or scrapes, he loves how clumsy he is because of his long legs, and he loves how Jeremy trips over his own feet nearly every day in the hallway and grabs onto Michael to right himself.

He loves how he can talk to Jeremy about anything, and how Jeremy will listen.

He's hopelessly in love with Jeremy; he could go on listing things that he loves about him for hours at this rate.

Michael rips his gaze from Jeremy, who sits across the classroom and chugs his water, hoping it will cool him down.

***

Michael would do... pretty much anything for Jeremy.

The spring play rolls around, and Jeremy gets one of the main parts, along with Christine. It's a romance, and Jeremy hands Michael a copy of the script and looks at him with puppy dog eyes.

“Could you please read Christine's lines? I highlighted them and everything. I just need to practice.”

Michael's eyes skim over the words, but he doesn't read any further into them before nodding and standing up from his bean bag chair. He takes a long drag from his joint and slowly breathes it out before reading the first line. 

“I thought you didn't want to be with me.”

His voice is blank, and he frowns a bit. He can already tell how cliche this is going to be.

“I do, I swear I do. It's just… I never thought I'd fall for you,” Jeremy says, full of emotion. Michael's heart thuds. Relatable, Michael thinks.

“Oh please, we all knew it would come to this. We're best friends.”

For God's sake.

“Not all best friends fall in love with each other.”

“Well, we do! We're different!” Michael drew in a shaky breath. This was feeling way too familiar for him. Way too cliche. “You just couldn't accept the truth.”

Jeremy took a step towards him and met his eyes. “I'm accepting it now.” Jeremy put a hand on his cheek. “Do you forgive me?”

Michael's pretty sure even his lips are shaking and he lifts his script so it's directly in front of his face. “I… you really hurt me.”

“I understand that. I'm sorry.”

“It's not that simple. It never is.”

“But it's different for us.”

Jeremy pulled away from Michael and stepped back, grinning from ear to ear. “How was that?”

“Um. It was. Um.”

“Did I get too close? I'm sorry, I just got really into character.”

“No, no, no, that's okay. Just… surprised me, is all.” Michael handed Jeremy his script back and sent him a shaky smile. “You did great. I can't wait to actually watch this play.”

Jeremy smiled fondly and dumped the scripts onto his bean bag. He started walking towards the stairs before turning towards Michael.

“I'm gonna run upstairs for some snacks, you want anything?”

“Uh… nothing.”

Jeremy nodded and ran up the stairs. When Michael knew the coast was clear, he plopped down into his bean bag and ran his hands over his face, cursing his heart for refusing to listen to his brain.

***

Michael supports Jeremy... all the time.

Jeremy finally gets the nerve to ask out Christine, and they become a thing. It makes Michael's skin crawl, but he supports him.

Don't get Michael wrong, he loves Christine. She's a bubbly ball of energy with no filter, which makes her hilarious, but Michael just… can't stand to see Jeremy with someone in a romantic way.

Michael realizes with foggy eyes that he's jealous. He's ridiculous, completely, utterly jealous. Jealousy doesn't fix anything, it just breaks down the jealous person more.

He proves to be right with that idea when Jeremy calls him out of nowhere a few nights before the play.

Michael had known that Jeremy went out on his first date with Christine that night. He knew because Jeremy had told him and he knew because he had just stared at his television in his basement and kept failing a level that should've been as easy as preschool for him.

He knew because he couldn't focus on anything except Jeremy leaving him again. It was ridiculous, it was him overreacting, it was Michael's mind beating him up over this because he was a teenager in love.

He looked at his phone as it rang, flashing a horribly blurred picture of Jeremy. It's actually a really gross picture, but Michael must be a weird person because it usually makes his chest warm each time he sees it.

Today, he lets it ring a few times before he draws in a breath and picks up, pressing it to his ear.

“Hey, Jer,” he greets, cringing at the salty taste of his tears in his mouth. “How did date night with Chris go?”

***

...Michael… is Jeremy's best friend…

A best friend takes the role of consoling their hurting friend.

The thing is that Jeremy isn't hurting. Well, he isn't hurting horribly, just a dull ache.

“Christine and I didn't click,” he explains, kicking off his sandals and looking over to Michael with a small smile. “We broke up after the play.”

“You… what?” Michael stuttered out, looking at Jeremy with wide eyes. Jeremy stood straight up and the smile remained on his face. “She's your dream girl.”

“Well, I mean, yeah, but we're better off as friends. I couldn't really… see a future being with her. I want to find a girl and get with her when we… you know, like each other. Romantically.”

“Oh. Mhm.” Michael's answers are short. He doesn't mean to be rude, his throat just hurts and his chest is tight. Life has sucked a bit lately.

“Are you alright? You're looking pretty rough.” Jeremy walks over and puts his hands on Michael's shoulder and Michael's lips tremble before he falls forward and buries his face in Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy's arms go around Michael and Michael doesn't cry.

He just hugs back.

***

Michael… is in love… with Jeremy…

It aches. He doesn't know how, but the pain seems to have become physical.

He didn't know that he was a drama queen.

Jeremy doesn't have a girlfriend anymore and he doesn't seem to be looking for another one. He hasn't mentioned any girls, and he seems to be paying more attention to Michael.

It hurts.

It shouldn't hurt. It should feel good, to have your crush pay this much attention to you, but it kinda sucks sometimes.

It sucks the most when you know that he'll never, ever like you back.

***

...Michael… is…

Everything's fine. Fine isn't fine, okay isn't okay, but that's what everything is.

That's confusing, but Michael's confused.

Is he upset? Is he happy?

What?

***

...Michael…

“We need to talk,” Jeremy says one night. They're in Michael's room, Jeremy lying on an air mattress on the floor. They weren't talking, and Michael had thought that Jeremy had fallen asleep. Michael was counting the glow stars on the ceiling.

“About what?”

“Us. You. What's been wrong lately?”

“Huh? Nothing. I'm-”

“Don't say you're fine. I know you better than that. You aren't fine.”

“No, seriously… I'm…”

Michael's breath hitched and he threw an arm over his eyes. His talking came out muffled.

“...I'm fine…”

Michael heard the squeaking of the mattress and then felt the bed dip. Arms came around him and he made a weird whimpering noise and curled up. Jeremy held him tight.

“What's wrong, Michael?”

His voice was so soft. It was unbearable.

“Life has s-sucked… so much lately,” Michael whispered, and it was the truth. Aside from pining after his best friend, his dad had been relentlessly showing up and yelling at him. His anxiety and insecurities were acting up as of late and he had felt like he really hadn't belonged anywhere.

“I'm sorry you have to go through this. I'm sorry I haven't been there for you that much lately.”

“It's… it's okay. You had y-your show. I get it.”

“No. That's not an excuse. You remember what happened last time. I never want a repeat of that.” Jeremy shushed Michael and pulled the cover over the both of them. “I'm sleeping here tonight. Is that okay?”

“...yeah.”

It really wasn't.

“Okay, cool. I love you, Michael, you know that. And, like you say to me all the time, I think I can love you enough for the both of us.”

***

Michael is a teenager in love.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Michael doesn't look away from the screen. He's currently battling off a zombie with a crowbar, and he's completely focused, so he just makes a grunting sound to show that he heard Jeremy.

“You like me, right?”

“‘Course I do. We're best friends.”

“No, like, romantically like me.”

The controller hits the ground with a clattering sound and moments later the screen flashes red and says “Game Over”. He's sure his face is just as red as the screen.

“...Why do you ask?”

“It's… it's a hunch. Rich, um, made a joke about us… dating, and… I've been paying more attention. To you, specifically. I never knew you looked at me that much.”

Michael is silent. His mouth is like a desert right now; even if he tried to talk, it would come out like a gasp for air.

“And… uh… um… I-”

“Spit it out,” Michael coughs out, preparing himself for the worst when Jeremy takes a deep breath.

“I am totally not against it.”

Michael's head whips around to Jeremy so fast he wouldn't be surprised if his neck starts hurting later.

“You- what?!”

“I would totally date you if you wanted me to.”

“Well, I mean, yes, I- yes.” Michael nodded and Jeremy grinned.

“So. Dating?”

“Yes.”

Jeremy grins even wider and shuffles over from his bean bag to throw his arms around Michael who's smile is overwhelmingly huge as well. He hugs back and makes a cheering noise, causing Jeremy to laugh.

They stay like that for a bit, and Michael feels like he's home.

So, yeah, Michael loves Jeremy, and Jeremy loves him right on back.

They've been through thick and thin together, rocky and flat, and they'd always have each other's back.

They could read one another like a book by this point, and Michael thinks that Jeremy is a book he never wants to stop reading.


End file.
